Brazilian government calls for probe into US funding of far-right causes

Brazil's attorney general has called on law enforcement to investigate alleged efforts by the United States to interfere in the country's domestic politics through the diversion of funds to far-right causes.

Key points

• Bolsonaro was ultimately convicted and sentenced to a 27-year prison sentence in September 2025.
• The report comes against the backdrop of a tense presidential election in which leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is seeking re-election.
• Bolsonaro's eldest son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, is a frontrunner in the race to challenge Lula this year.
• Citing the trial, Trump last year placed 50-percent tariffs on certain Brazilian goods that he has since removed.
• Lula has sought to focus attention on efforts Trump has undertaken to boost the prospects of far-right allies throughout Latin America, warning of threats to regional sovereignty.

Attorney General Jorge Messias pressed the probe on Thursday, one day after the British newspaper The Guardian published a story suggesting that the administration of United States President Donald Trump planned to award $1m to right-wing civil groups opposing the Brazilian Supreme Court.

Messias stated in a social media post that foreign meddling "cannot be tolerated" and that the report represented "an important alert for Brazilian sovereignty".

"The information is especially serious in light of Brazil's electoral process and the recent episodes of external pressure on our institutions, " the attorney general continued.

Meanwhile, the report comes against the backdrop of a tense presidential election in which leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is seeking re-election.

Trump has endorsed multiple right-wing candidates ahead of elections throughout the region, sometimes hinging the possibility of economic backing on the voting results.

He has additionally cultivated close relations with the family of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. This person lost to Lula in the last presidential election.

Bolsonaro's eldest son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, is a frontrunner in the race to challenge Lula this year. Recent polls have shown Lula and Bolsonaro virtually tied ahead of the first round of voting on October 4.

Flavio Bolsonaro met with Trump at the White House in May. While Lula has positioned himself as a critic of Trump's interventionist approach to Latin American politics and security, he has promised closer ties with the US.

In practice, the Guardian report published on Wednesday states that the Trump administration sought to redirect $175m from the State Department's human rights fund to various far-right causes worldwide.

Meanwhile, the recipients allegedly included groups advocating for white Afrikaners in South Africa that the Trump administration has falsely portrayed as victims of a "genocide" and efforts in Brazil to counter what the US called "lawfare and censorship".

Brazil's Supreme Court has been a subject of frequent criticism from the political right, both in Brazil and the US.

Much of that criticism stems from the 2025 conviction of Jair Bolsonaro for involvement in an alleged coup plot, designed to subvert his loss to Lula in the 2022 election.

Bolsonaro and his allies, including Trump, have depicted the case as an instance of political persecution.

At the time, he confirmed the tariffs in a letter that denounced Bolsonaro's prosecution. "The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace, " Trump wrote.

In practice, the Trump administration additionally revoked the visas of Brazilian judicial office-holders involved in Bolsonaro's case in a bid to have it tossed out. It additionally levied short-lived sanctions against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, accusing him of "an unlawful witch hunt" against right-wing voices.

In June, one of his sons, Eduardo Bolsonaro, was sentenced to more than four years in prison after a court ruled he had lobbied for US interference in his father's case.

In short, brazilian government calls for probe into US funding of far is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.